On the night of his re-election, President Obama told the nation that he wanted “our children to live in an America…that isn’t threatened by the destructive power of a warming planet.”

In the past year, we’ve seen extreme weather, fueled by carbon pollution, cost hundreds of American lives and nearly $100 billion in damage across the country. Yet right now we have no national standards to control carbon pollution from the biggest emitters—the 1500 existing power plants which are responsible for 40 percent of U.S. carbon pollution. NRDC has developed a plan for how the President could use his existing authority under the Clean Air Act to cut this climate-changing pollution from power plants, quickly and cost-effectively.

In a 2011 Supreme Court decision, American Electric Power v. Connecticut, the court ruled that it is the EPA’s responsibility to curb carbon pollution from power plants, new and existing. Carbon pollution limits for new power plants have been proposed and the EPA needs to make them final. But the step that will make the biggest difference is cutting pollution from existing power plants. Under section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act, the EPA could set state-specific standards for average emissions from existing power plants based on each state’s current energy mix. Then states and power plant owners would have broad flexibility in deciding how to meet those standards, using a range of cost-effective measures and technologies.

Not all states line up at the same starting point when it comes to carbon emissions—some are heavily coal dependent, while others rely more on lower-carbon fuels and clean, renewable energy. Developing state-specific standards will give heavily coal-reliant states more realistic targets, while still moving them toward a cleaner energy supply. In addition, states and power plant owners can keep costs down by using a variety of measures to achieve compliance, whether it’s installing a new boiler in an old coal-fired plant, or investing in a home-weatherization program to reduce energy demand. These efficiency measures will help keep energy bills low and also create thousands of jobs that can’t be outsourced.

All in all, NRDC’s flexible, cost-effective proposal can achieve a 26 percent reduction (from 2005 levels) in carbon pollution from power plants by 2020, according to modeling done by the same firm the EPA uses for much of its air pollution modeling. The cost of compliance, about $4 billion, is comparatively low, and is vastly outweighed by the benefits--$25 to $60 billion in savings. These benefits come in the form of 3,600 lives saved, and thousands of asthma attacks and other illness prevented each year due to less air pollution, as well as the value of reducing carbon pollution by 560 million tons. This is twice the reduction that will be achieved by clean car standards.

The President has been very clear about the need to do something to curb global warming. This cost-effective proposal could be his biggest opportunity to take decisive action. He can dramatically reduce carbon pollution from power plants--while creating major health benefits and jobs--using his existing authority under the Clean Air Act.

Eighty percent of all the antibiotics sold in the United States are given to farm animals – not humans. Most of these animals aren't even sick. It's standard practice on factory farms, as a substitute for better management practices, to routinely dose healthy pigs, cows, and chickens with antibiotics that are vital for treating human disease. As a result of this non-therapeutic antibiotic use, these farms have become breeding grounds for superbugs--dangerous germs that can't be knocked out with the usual medicines. And that puts human health at risk.

The Natural Resources Defense Council, where I serve as Executive Director, has been at the forefront of this issue. In response to an NRDC initiated lawsuit, twice this year a federal court ordered the FDA to take action. In March, the court required the FDA to withdraw approval for the use of penicillin and tetracyclines in animal feed, unless drug manufacturers can prove this practice is not a public health risk. In June, the court directed the FDA to reconsider its denial of two citizen petitions on antibiotic use in livestock, saying “The adoption of voluntary measures does not excuse the Agency from its duty to review the Citizen Petitions on their merits.”

Superbugs can travel off farms and contaminate the surrounding air and water, as well as our food supply, which puts people at risk of acquiring serious and even life-threatening infections. In 2010, almost 52 percent of retail chicken breasts tested by the FDA were contaminated with antibiotic-resistant E. coli. Drug-resistant bacteria have been detected in air and drinking water near industrial hog farms in three states. Drug-resistant infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria, including those generated by factory farms, have been estimated to cost Americans up to $35 billion every year.

The FDA has known for more than 30 years that antibiotic abuse on factory farms poses a risk to human health. In its March decision, the court determined that the FDA formally found back in 1977 that penicillin and tetracyclines had not been shown to be safe. In its June decision, concerning other antibiotics, the court pointed out that “the Agency has all but made a finding that the subtherapeutic use of antibiotics in food-producing animals has not been shown to be safe.” Nonetheless, the use of penicillin, tetracyclines, and other medically important antibiotics in livestock quadrupled between 1970 and 2009. The agency has not stopped the practice of routinely feeding antibiotics to healthy livestock, relying instead on "voluntary guidance" to address the issue.

The FDA has appealed the March and June decisions and remains focused on the failed strategy of allowing industry to use antibiotics as it chooses instead of standing up to protect public health. NRDC is fighting FDA’s appeals. Under an FOIA request, the FDA will begin releasing public health risk assessment documents on antibiotics to us. NRDC is also working with leading scientific organizations to keep public pressure on the FDA. Health groups from the CDC to the American Medical Association have spoken out against antibiotic abuse on industrial farms. Hundreds of thousands of citizens, including chefs, medical professionals, and progressive food companies, have called on the FDA to do its job and protect the health of our families.

It's time for the FDA to follow the law and do its job. The agency needs to curb antibiotic abuse on factory farms and protect antibiotics for those who need them most--sick people.

Construction and development companies praying for an economic recovery next year have something else to worry about: pending new EPA regulations regarding stormwater discharges from construction activities – and claims from environmental groups that EPA’s proposal isn’t stringent enough.

EPA issued a proposal on November 28, 2008. That proposal is complex, but the aspect of it that has received the most attention is the requirement that certain construction sites greater than 30 acres meet numerical turbidity limits (specifically, 13 nephelometric turbidity units (NTUs), which I had to include in this post just because it sounds so cool). Developers have opposed the numeric limits; the National Association of Home Builders estimates that the cost to comply would be $15,000 to $45,000 per acre.

On the other hand, the NRDC and Waterkeeper Alliance have threatened to sue EPA if EPA does not revise the propose rule to include post-construction controls as part of the rule. EPA has stated that it is not planning to do so. It’s not obvious that NRDC and Waterkeeper Alliance have the better of this specific debate, but the argument regarding post-construction controls is similar to the ongoing discussion in Massachusetts and elsewhere regarding the need for ongoing stormwater controls at properties other than industrial facilities that are already regulated.

The issue is not going to go away. EPA is under a deadline to issue the rule by December 1, 2009.

American College of Environmental Lawyers, The ACOEL, is a professionalassociation of lawyers distinguished by experience and high standards in the practice of environmental law, ethics, and the development of environmental law.